Gave this book a try but overall didn’t enjoy it. Wasn’t able to get into the story as much as I wanted to.

Review hadn’t saved. Really enjoyed this one- writing what fantastic and drew me in, didn’t want it to end!

This is an outstanding work of historical fiction that alternates between 1955 and the present day. The author did a good job of drawing me in and making me feel the emotions of the characters. It provides a lot of opportunities for searching your own soul and reflecting on the struggles faced by many in the not so distance past. Highly recommended.

The Girl at the Back of The Bus was a very powerful novel. The story focuses on two strong protagonists. While I love Ashlee as a character, I have to say that Mattie’s story is more powerful. Mattie goes through many challenges and faces a lot of racism. Yet, she keeps on persevering. Her story made me absolutely speechless. Overall, this was a novel about inner strength, equality, and choices. The story is very heart-breaking. The characters are very complex and seemed realistic. The novel is well-written and evenly paced! This novel is a very important read for today’s readers! I recommend this novel for Child Bride, Hidden Figures, and The Things We Cannot Say!

This story was a bit different than what I expected but I absolutely loved it! Dual perspectives sometimes throw me as I sometimes become more enthralled with one POV than the other and wind up inevitable rushing through one character’s chapters to get to the parts I’m most interested in. But that didn’t happen here at all. Mattie and Ashlee were both fantastic, strong, interesting heroines and I loved both of their stories.

Thank you NetGalley, author and publisher for the arc in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

I really enjoyed this book and the way modern day and the past were interwoven together. The characters were beautifully formed and complex - the narratives of the civil rights movement (both today and in the past) were not oversimplified, but written with power, nuance and deep character.

A really special book I’m glad I read it when I had enough time to absorb it properly. Beautifully written

This is a historical fiction, and this book switches behind present day (Ashlee-The Granddaughter) and 1955 (Mattie). This book pulled me in from the first page, and I could not put it down. I found this story about two strong will black women that overcome so much, and I loved it so much. This book was well-written, and the characters where so good. I fell in love with the characters. I have to say by the end of the book I was crying because of how great this story was. This story touched my heart so much. I was kindly provided an e-copy of this book by the publisher (Bookouture) or author (Suzette D. Harrison) via NetGalley, so I can give honest review about how I feel about this book. I want to send a big Thank you to them for that.

This book was absolutely brilliant! A lovely, poignant story, with a rich, distinctive, almost lyrical style of writing. I really appreciated both the modern and historical stories, and the voices of women who don't always get a chance to be heard. Highly recommended!

I absolutely loved Matties PoV I couldn't get into the other point of view but mattress shook me to my core. Wonderful read with amazing detail and emotion

With this book covering a lot of emotive and engaging themes...I expected to feel a lot more connected to this book than I did. I struggled to stay engaged with Ashlee's accounts. I'm not sure why but I struggled a bit to be honest If it had stayed focused on Mattie's story I would have rated it higher! Ashlee, character didn't come to life for me!
It is worth reading, for sure but I can give it no more than 3 stars...my honest review!

This heartbreaking novel is going to be hard to forget anytime soon. Flipping between present day and 1955, a story of heartbreak, loss, love, and survival is woven in almost a lyrical way. I got wrapped up in the pages of this story and couldn't stop until it was over. These women felt real to me, and their struggles became my own. I will never understand what it's like to be Black in the United States, in the 1950s or now, but books like this tell the stories that need to be told.

The Girl at the Back of the Bus by Suzette D Harrison is a powerful story with dual timelines. In present day Atlanta Ashlee Turner is facing some big decisions about her career and her relationship. A call from home to say her beloved grandmother is dying seems like the final straw but going home to her family and her roots may provide her with the clarity she needs to make those tough decisions. What she did not expect is to find a hidden treasure trove of letters in her grandmother's closet that reveal a family secret.
In Montgomery, Alababa in 1955 her grandmother, Mattie is also struggling with a decision that will change the course of her life. She is sixteen, pregnant and Black , and can see only one way out of her predicament, getting rid of the baby before anyone finds out. However her mind is changed when she witnesses a brave act of defiance on a bus, and she decides that she will keep her baby no matter the obstacles and difficulties she faces.
This is a story of two strong and independent women who often had parallel experiences . I warmed to both characters easily and was completely immersed in the story. It was sad to see that although the world has changed immensely in the span of Mattie's life, her Granddaughter is still dealing with prejudice because of the colour of her skin.
I will admit from the title of the book I expected that the Rosa Park's story would have more of a role to play, but I am not upset that the story took me in a less expected direction. While the book is definitely focused on the strong female characters I did appreciate the positive depiction of Rosa's beloved grandfather and his relationship with Mattie, and I also liked how believable the modern day relationship of Ashlee and Brad was too.
I read a review copy courtesy of NetGalley and the publisher ,all opinions are my own.

What a fantastic book "The Girl at the Back of the Bus by Suzette D. Harrison" was. It was a powerful read, this not a genre I don't usually pick and I am so glad I had the opportunity to read it.

I am looking forward to reading more from this author and highly recommend this book.
If I could give this book more than 5 stars I would.

Big thank you to Bookouture and to NetGalley for this ARC for review. This is my honest opinion.

Set in Alabama and Georgia, this empowering novel – tender, warm, harsh, heartbreaking – addresses the legacy of slavery, its effect on all future Black generations, and systemic racism which, incomprehensibly, we are still struggling to eradicate. It also speaks to the astonishing bonds between women, family and friends alike.

In 1955, sixteen-year-old Mattie Banks, pregnant by a white boy, has few options. Seated at the back of a bus, she witnesses “Miz Rosa” refuse to give up her seat to a white man. This encounter is life-changing. Mattie’s mother, Dorothy, supports Mattie’s wish to keep her baby. She proudly encourages Mattie’s education and is adamant that being a domestic for a white family, as she is herself, will never be Mattie’s fate. In the present day, thirty-something Ashlee Turner is a Black lawyer passed over for promotion for a white man because the firm has to “strategically position” itself for “upward progression.” Ashlee is about to re-evaluate her life. She goes home, unsure about her future, and risking a relationship with a white man who loves her deeply. Surrounded by parents and grandparents, she finds closure and peace as she unravels her family history and comes to terms with herself.

Harrison’s beautiful family story is fluid and emotional, and whether writing of love or hate, turmoil or happiness, she pulls no punches. Some sections had me involuntarily wincing, but she does not dwell gratuitously on less savoury facts. Her characters extend themselves off the page as they brave the hardships of segregation without understanding what to many of us is the inexplicable. I felt as if Mattie and Ashlee were friends, and their stories are equally engrossing (rare in dual-timeline novels). The overwhelming love and support in both stories, despite many setbacks in Mattie’s, is so uplifting to read. The prose is direct, honest and open. I was and am deeply moved. An exceptional novel for exceptional times.

Mattie was on the bus on the fateful day when Rosa Parks decided that she had had enough of kowtowing to white folks & refused to give up her seat on the bus. Mattie had been going to see Miss Celastine- a lady who 'helped' girls in trouble! However Mattie went back home. Her mother was a live-in domestic help for White folks & when Mattie's condition is discovered is dismissed. They go back to her father's folk. Fast forward to present day. Mattie's granddaughter Ashlee is a lawyer & a good one. When she is passed over for promotion & evidence points to the fact the firm couldn't quite bring themselves to appoint a black woman she takes time off. Mattie is dying & they have always been close so she goes home. The story is told by the two of them. Separated by many years, their stories have things in common.

I started reading this a couple of months ago but struggled to get into it. However it's sat on my shelf looking at me for so long I gave it another go & I was glad I did. I knew something about segregation in America, but this book shone a light on the people who survived & thrived through it. Many didn't & many still struggle. I loved the characters & shed a tear at the end. Thanks to Netgalley & the publisher for letting me read & review this book.

This is a multigenerational historical fiction novel. I liked the use of a dual narrative but how the same themes of gender and race applied to different periods in history.

Mattie was an engaging narrator and this was an emotional read. I’d highly recommend this to my students.

Thanks to NetGalley for my review copy.

A powerful, emotive story that kept me turning the pages. Recommended! Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for the chance to read this ARC.

The Girl at the Back of the Bus is a wonderful historical fiction read by Suzette D Harrison.

I was excited to read this as soon as I saw the cover. And luckily, the story held up to my expectations.

This is a powerful story of a woman in the 1950s and present day, following Mattie and her granddaughter Ashlee. Mattie's experiences are amazing, with her clearly one hell of a survivor. As for Ashlee, her issues are definitely more modern, yet just as important.

I appreciate the way the racial issues are illustrated, doing a good job exploring some of the important impacts of how racism affected these women.

The Girl at the Back of the Bus is a must read for any fans of historical fiction. This Suzette D Harrison book is emotional, intense and will start an important narrative between readers.

The year is 1955. Sixteen, black and pregnant, Mattie Banks sits in the Colored section of a bus in Montgomery, Alabama unhappily moving ever closer to a visit to a back street abortionist. But Mattie's life changes forever when she witnesses Rosa Parks refuse to cede her seat to a white passenger. Already all too aware of the cost of being black in a world ruled by whites, Mattie decides to keep her baby. As a result of her pregnancy and of her mother's support of the Montgomery bus boycott that followed Ms. Park's actions, Mattie and her mother are forced from the only home Mattie has ever known, and set off to make a new life for themselves among Maggie's late father's people.

Move to the present, and the narrator shifts to Ashlee Turner, Maggie's granddaughter. Ashlee, who has been brought up to believe in the power of strong black women, is an attorney who has just been denied a promotion that has, instead, been given to a younger, less qualified white man. Feeling a sense of dissatisfaction both with her professional and her personal life, she takes a two week leave of absence to go home to visit her parents and grandparents. But home doesn't offer all of the comfort Ashlee craves, for her much beloved grandmother lies dying. Doing her best to keep her Nana Mattie comfortable, Mattie is surprised when her grandmother opens her eyes and speaks to her. Nana Mattie's request sends Ashlee on a search that ends in the discovery of, among other things, a manuscript that might be a novel written by Mattie. As Ashlee reads further, she uncovers secrets that might devastate her family.

The Girl at the Back of the Bus alternates between Mattie's and Ashlee's narratives in a way that highlights the similarities and differences between their lives. Harrison's exceptional use of dialogue and the first person narrative structure allows her to bring her characters vividly to life.. I was gripped by Mattie's voice from the first sentence. Harrison successfully explores a number of issues of particular relevance today as we struggle to address racism without disrupting the narrative flow of the novel. Despite the serious issues the novel takes on, The Girl at the Back of the Bus is a delightful read. Highly recommended.

Thank you to Suzette D. Harrison, Bookouture, and NetGalley for the ARC of The Girl at the Back of the Bus in return for an honest review. The opinions expressed here are my own.